Is this a virus?

[Leslie]

I can only get online on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, occasionally on Sunday.

Thursday morning early I got onto my new, Toshiba computer after
having used it to do internet stuff on Wednesday. I was editing a
table of art work and it was going fine, when suddenly the keyboard
acted like the control button was down all the time. When I typed P it
went to the print menu; when I typed o it tried to open a new file,
and so forth. At first I thought it was a piece of dust and attempted
to jiggle the control key to no effect. I restarted the thing and then
the problem disappeared, but only for about 5 minutes. Then it came
back again. At my husband's suggestion, I plugged in an external keyboard.
That did not solve the problem. It worked fine for 5 minutes and then
started the control key is being held down, both the message and the
effect. I immediately isolated the computer to keep from spreading the
virus, as well as the memory stick that was plugged into it late
Wednesday. Fortunately, I had a backup of everything from the previous
Friday, so it took me only a day to redo all the editing that was
lost. My husband suggested some diagnostics, finding out if it was in Windows
or MS Word or MS Office or what. So I turned the computer back on, and
then it worked fine. I've not been able to get it to act up like it
did on Thursday morning. But it is still isolated. I have AVG
anti-viral, the whole boughten package, not the freebie, and it was
all up to date. I just ran their PC tuneup package, but it doesn't appear to be a tuneup problem. I think this is a virus that slipped by. Do you agree?
Have you any suggestions? Is it necessary to keep the computer
isolated? I'm doing all internet and correspondence with my little Acer, which, incidently, also has AVG on it.

 

[rookie]

I have 3 anti viruses that I scan on a regular basis. AVG being one of them. You can also download one called Malwarebytes Anti-malware (MBAM), and I run Ad-Aware as well. If you can get a free copy of Eset...that might help for this particular scan. Get also a copy of Ccleaner, does a great job at cleaning out the junk.

I found that sometimes, one anti virus definition while up to date, sometimes misses one. Which is why I run more than one on my PC....

 

[jwithnell]

If this is a virus, and it sounds like it might be, if you can figure out what it is you may be able to get info online about fixing it. Take a look at the programs install/uninstall in the control panel. Sort by date and see what was installed around the time you started having problems. If you see anything you haven't installed note the name, then uninstall it. If possible, Google your computer's symptoms. If you have downloaded and installed freeware, Google the site and see if anyone has mentioned viruses that are hitchhiking from it.

Also, check to see if you are up-to-date on your operating system updates -- windows updates on many Tuesday nites and tries to patch any known vulnerabilities. Updating might resolve your problem, but usually once something is in, you have to deal with the invader.

 

[Berean]

As Ray suggested, get Malwarebytes : Free anti-malware download, install, update, scan, and then allow it to clean or fix anything it finds.

Here's another free online scan you can run from Panda. FREE ANTIVIRUS online: ActiveScan 2.0 - PANDA SECURITY

 

[Edward]

Before you do anything drastic, when the problem is happening, check and see if the handicap function has been enabled. Go to the Control Panel (Start, control panel)
Select 'Ease of Access'. Select 'Change how your keyboard works'. See if any of the boxes are checked; if so, uncheck them. Apply, OK and Exit.

 

[O'GodHowGreatThouArt]

Check to see if sticky keys is enabled (Follow Edward's directions above).

If that doesn't work, you'll need to check to see if anything is physically messing up the key. Have you spilled anything recently onto your keyboard (coffee, water, etc)?

 

[jogri17]

Worst case scenario: make a quick backup and re-install the OS. If that doesn't work, than it's hardware and not a virus. As for anti-viruses... for Windows, I don't get how anyone would by one when not only there are free 3rd party stuff out there, BUT Microsoft provides a free downloadable anti-virus (Microsoft Security Essentials) that really is good.

 

[Leslie]

Thanks to all of you. This gives me a place to start.

 

[Leslie]

I didn't spill anything. Went into control panel and there was nothing downloaded shortly before the problem turned up. There was nothing checked on the keyboard part of the menu. Malware refused to load. Panda loaded but there was a glitch in its running a scan, something I couldn't get around. Microsoft Security Essentials loaded and did a scan, told me no threats. The AVG scan gave the same result. Meanwhile, since 2 August when this appeared, I've kept the computer isolated but have done work on it. The problem has not recurred, even with working on the same file on which it previously manifested. I can make files, print them out, then copy then work off the hard copy or else copy them by hand into my slow machine. It's a pain. I'm willing to pay for security, but there is no way to pay from Ethiopia. It is sheer insanity to put a credit card number into the internet from anywhere in Africa. If someone can tell me where I can send a check and get a CD in the mail, i'd be glad to do it. Any suggestions? Does anyone think it's safe to take this out of isolation?

 

[littlepeople]

Could you get a hold of a USB keyboard to plug in and see if the results are the same? That would help narrow things down. It doesn't sound like any virus I've ever encountered. Most viruses are written so as not to be noticed. It does sound like sticky keys.

 

[Leslie]

I have a USB keyboard, plugged it in, and it did the same thing during the malfunctioning. After I last posted, this same problem happened once again. Then I noticed that the up and down arrows also malfunctioned. The up arrow acted like the left-pointing, and the down arrow acted like the right-pointing. Again, the USB keyboard had the same problem. However, the computer keyboard was not disabled when I plugges in the external keyboard; it still worked. I tried to disable the computer keyboard, but couldn't figure out how to do it. When I restarted the computer, the problem was resolved. Even with editing on the table in the file where the problem originally started, everything worked fine; it has continued to work fine. The computer is still in isolation, but this is a pain in the rear. Has anyone other ideas?

 

[Edward]

Suggestion for one more thing to check

Under the Start Menu,

Control Panel

Clock, Language and Region

Change Keyboards

Do you have more than one keyboard available? Some software could be selecting an alternate keyboard.